Report from the New Moon, Summit Entertainment, and Avatar Panels at 2009 San Diego Comic-Con

Comic-Con: New Moon and Other Fun Day One Highlights

Well, it wasn't easy, but after a loooong wait outside of the Comic-Con convention center in San Diego, I finally scored a spot at the Summit panel, aka the New Moon event! But before that, we got a peek at Astro Boy, a fun new cartoon starring Kristen Bell and Freddie Highmore — who has really grown up since his sweet performance in Finding Neverland. We also watched a clip from Sorority Row, a slasher film about a sorority prank gone wrong. Audrina Patridge from The Hills stars in this one, which I think pretty much sums it up.

Of course, the main event was New Moon, and Summit certainly didn't disappoint. Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, and Kristen Stewart took the stage to ear-piercing screams and answered a lot of questions from the fans. We were also treated to not one but two new clips from the film, featuring shirtless scenes for both Robert and Taylor. I was excited about both of the new clips, which now give me even more hope that New Moon will be an improvement from Twilight. Overall, the stars were gracious, though Rob and Kristen both seemed a bit uncomfortable in the spotlight. Here are a few tidbits:

Rob on the movie's special effects: "All these machines did the acting for me, which is the way I like it."

Kristen on Bella: "Bella is intense on doing what she needs to do for herself and not being ashamed of herself. She's sort of everywhere — talk about mood swings. But she doesn't have to explain herself. She just feels what she feels."

Rob on how he's similar to Edward: "I look a bit like him."

Taylor on the fan response: "When we were making Twilight, we knew what we were making but didn't know the reaction we'd get from you guys. So we're really thankful for what you guys have done. And in New Moon, we knew what we're doing, and now you guys are supporting us. So we were more confident because we knew we had you behind us, but I'd be lying if I said I never got nervous, because we all want to please you and live up to your expectations."

There's more from the panel over on Pop, so click here. After the Twilight mania had finally died down, I got a chance to check out some footage from James Cameron's new 3-D movie, Avatar. The film, which has both live action and digital, felt like a cross between a sci-fi flick and a video game, and the special effects were outstanding — I'm definitely curious to hear more about this one. Next on the schedule are panels for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and the next season of Dexter, so stay tuned!